Custom Paint at the Tour de France

July 2, 2012

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Racers in the Tour are no different from any of us in their need to commemorate achievements and advertise their personalities. For example, burly sprinter Andre Greipel has a gorilla graphic on his Ridley’s head tube to remind fans and rivals of his nickname. Here are a few other special paint jobs on pro bikes. —Joe Lindsey

BMC team owner Andreas Rihs presented George Hincapie with this birthday present the day before the Tour de France began. Themed “the Gentlemen’s Round” (after the Tour’s nickname, le Grand Boucle, which means the great circle or round), it commemorates Hincapie’s record-setting achievement of 17 starts in the Tour de France.

This is one of several frame graphics, which are done in paint rather than decals. Hincapie passed Joop Zoetemelk this year for the most Tour starts ever. But because Hincapie abandoned his first Tour, in 1996, if he finishes this July, he’ll tie Zoetemelk for the most finishes with 16. Incidentally, Hincapie hasn’t been riding his commemorative machine in the race; it’s much too beautiful. Instead, he’s on BMC’s new aero road bike prototype.

Philippe Gilbert hasn’t had the kind of year he did in 2011, but he’s still the reigning Belgian National Champion in the time trial discipline. He goes with an unmistakable, but classy and understated motif on his BMC TM01 Time Machine.

Ryder Hesjedal is one of just five Canadians riding for WorldTour teams, and he flies his country’s flag proudly on this maple-leaf-themed Cervelo R5ca. Although not overly flashy, it’s a gorgeous interpretation that also happens to make use of two of his Garmin-Sharp team’s primary colors.

Garmin equipment sponsor Rotor also made these special crankarms for Hesjedal. The drive side features a subtle pink graphic motif, while the backside of the non-drive arm spells it out plainly enough. We would guess he’s got another set of these somewhere not on his daily driver.

Stage 1 winner Peter Sagan is aboard a Cannondale Super Six EVO with a special “Tourminator” paint job. The menacing looking bike features day-glow green logos and the visage of a green-eyed Terminator on the head tube.

Sagan’s nickname is “Terminator” but not for the reason you might think. Cannondale press liaison Rory Mason says the name comes from Sagan’s time racing mountain bikes, when he was famous for being hard on gear, “terminating” wheels, tires, and other parts. Sagan kept asking for a special bike and made a bet: win a fifth stage at the Tour of California and he’d have a bike for the Tour de France.

RadioShack-Nissan’s Fabian Cancellara was a prohibitive prologue favorite, giving bike sponsor Trek plenty of time to create any paint scheme it wanted (like his Spartacus time trial bike) should he win and take yellow. But rather than go wild, Trek stayed simple with this Domane that Cancellara rode on Stage 2.